It can be tempting for genealogists to assume that the structure of things today are the way they have been for longer than they may have.

Two of my grandparents graduated from the same high school I did. It was after I had been researching my genealogy for some time when I discovered that they didn’t attend all their high school years at that same school. They both attended the first three years of high school at high schools very near to where they lived, but ones that only offered the first three years of high school. They both chose to attend the county seat high school for their fourth year.

I had just assumed they went there all four years like I did. It’s not just high school attendance that can change over time–most things do. Always ask yourself if something that both your ancestors and you did was likely done in the same way.

Some things do not change. Some things do.

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